Perhaps it's because people don't respect authority anymore. By "authority" I'm referring to institutions that educate people, and then promote those people when they perform. Those are the people who should be influencers.

Dr. Fauci is a good example. For people like us, what made him an influencer was our respect for how he rose to the top of his profession. Our respect for him reflects our respect for medical institutions.

Perhaps people don't respect him because institutions and their value are invisible in our media world. And because people visible in the media trash authorities and institutions. Small-minded people enjoy seeing other people being trashed (see National Enquirer).

So if there are no perceived authorities, who do people turn to? They turn to the people who engage them in some positive way. It's like the way people turn to music that has "hooks" in it. So often the success of salespeople is their ability to create positive engagement. My mother was a bit like that. Among qualified doctors and politicians, she favored those who "seemed honest" who she felt she could trust.

I see another factor at work in myself. I follow some relatively obscure musicians on YouTube. Through YouTube, I develop a "personal relationship" which is hard to do with musicians in the real world. Of course, the "personal relationship" is something of an illusion -- along the lines of "my 100 closest friends."

As these musicians get more popular and have 10,000 closest friends, the illusion is shattered. I will still like their music, but I don't like being treated like I'm just one of the masses. Some musicians are better than others at maintaining the sense of "personal relationship" versus pandering to the masses.